British lung cancer patients may be dying unnecessarily because of a shortage of respiratory specialists to carry out life-saving operations, according to research published today.

Lung cancer patients, especially those aged over 75, are being denied potentially life-improving operations which are commonplace in countries such as America and Holland, the research suggests.

As a result Britain has one of the worst respiratory mortality rates in Europe, with only countries such as Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan having a poorer record.

The Government needs to double the number of thoracic surgeons and increase investment to offer lung cancer patients improved care, the British Thoracic Society (BTS) and the Society of Cardiothoracic Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland said.

The societies, which conducted the research, say the UK is failing to deliver effective treatment for lung cancer patients, especially the elderly.

Prof Martyn Partridge, BTS chairman, said: "Lung cancer patients in the UK, especially those over 75, are not getting the treatment they deserve.

"It seems that disease discrimination and age discrimination have developed within the NHS and many patients may be dying unnecessarily. We hope that this Government take note of our recommendations and take action to improve survival rates for patients with lung cancer."

An editorial in today's British Medical Journal (BMJ) says only one person in 50 people aged over 75 with lung cancer is receiving the lung resection operations which have proved a success elsewhere.

Writing in the BMJ, Prof Partridge said: "Respiratory disease kills one in four people in the UK and our death rates are nearly twice the European Union average.

"Within Europe, only Kyrgyztan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Ireland have greater respiratory mortality than the UK."

A Department of Health spokeswoman said: "We acknowledge there is currently a lack of surgical provision for lung cancer sufferers.

"However, we are working on a number of other initiatives that are improving and will improve lung cancer care."

The improvements include:

We have fewer than half the specialist surgeons required to meet European average standards. In Britain only one in five patients with lung cancer is alive a year after being diagnosed and one in 20 after five years.